Lewd picture posted of principal prompts parents’ outrage

Some parents pull children from school in protest

Several parents say they’ve pulled their children out of a central-Alberta school because repeated complaints about the conduct of the principal over the past five years have not been adequately addressed by either board officials or the body that regulates the province’s teachers.

Penny Mueller’s problems began in July 2009 when the educational leader of Crestomere School posed for a photo in which she simulated fellatio on the phallic-shaped Washington Monument while in the U.S. capital for a taxpayer-funded conference.

Another teacher from the K-9 facility was reprimanded and fined $500 by the Alberta Teacher’s Association for posting the picture on her Facebook page where it was seen by shocked parents and former students.

But the ATA’s investigation into a similar complaint against Mueller, found there was insufficient evidence to warrant a disciplinary hearing.

“It was a private photo,” ATA executive secretary Gordon Thomas said.

“The principal didn’t post it.”

This photo showing Crestomere School principal Penny Mueller (left) was posted on the Facebook page of teacher Marti Ingram, on right, in July, 2009 where it was seen by surprised parents and former students who were her friends. The staff of Crestomere School were attending a taxpayer-funded conference in Washington D.C.

Parent Lori Turner said she filed the complaint against Mueller with the profession’s regulator and withdrew her children from the school in a rural community 24 kilometres north of Red Deer county in the fall of 2009 after the principal criticized her in a private meeting for raising concerns about the photo with senior officials at the Wolf Creek School Division.

“I think she was upset because she got her wrists slapped by administration,” Turner said.

“She asked me if I had never been young and stupid once, and I said ‘sure,’ but never when my career was guiding and mentoring children.”

Parent Barb Neilson pulled her kids out of the school last fall because she was dissatisfied with the response of both the local school board and the ATA to numerous off-colour and ribald jokes that appeared on Mueller’s Pinterest account.

In one repost that Neilson found on the principal’s publicly accessible account a year ago, there is a drawing of two women playing squash while wearing form-fitting attire.

The accompanying caption reads “Shorts: if it looks like your vagina is trying to eat them, they’re not for you.”

Another is a photo of a teenage girl sitting in front of the Christmas tree holding a sanitary napkin on which a human eye has been drawn.

The words “Thanks Dad for the IPad” are superimposed on the picture.

“(Mueller is) supposed to be a strong female role model,” said Neilson “and she was posting humour that was not cool at all.”

When a meeting with Wolf Creek chief superintendent Larry Jacobs about the posts did not result in any firm promise of action, Neilson said she went to an ATA staff officer with printouts.

“(The officer) said it was not ideal she was posting those sort of things, but it was nothing warranting an investigation,” Neilson said.

“Her recommendation was I withdraw my complaint because it wasn’t going anywhere.”

Thomas of the ATA confirmed the complaint was withdrawn, but said Thursday the association would reopen the file and complete its investigation if Neilson submitted a fresh letter detailing her concern.

“If the complainant wants to reactivate, they should send it in,” he said.

“I can’t just swoop in there.”

Reached by phone on Thursday, Mueller said she had never behaved in a way that undermined the honour and dignity of the teaching profession.

“I have not done anything unprofessional,” she said.

“I think the media, including yourself, need to be aware about how the general public or parents go out of their way to destroy or cause grief in educators’ lives.”

Jacobs did not respond to Herald questions about the school board’s oversight of Mueller’s behaviour, but in an e-mail to Neilson after the controversial Pinterest postings he said his style of leadership was to teach and guide staff.

“I do not move from problems to blame,” he said.

“That type of response does nothing to validate our abilities to recognize problems, build solutions and work together to bring positive change.”

Mueller, who describes herself online as “passionate” about educational technology, continues to be active on social media.

While many of her recent postings on Twitter are work-related, others are about her personal life.

An outdoors enthusiast, Mueller retweeted a picture of a young girl fishing from a dock in April with the caption “Girls who fish are cuter than girls who twerk.”

The principal added the comment “Ya we are!”

While the ATA doesn’t tell teachers to avoid social media, Thomas said he advises them to exercise caution in what they say in the online universe or risk running afoul of the association’s code of conduct or raising the ire of parents.

“This is an an area where we have had growing business,” he said.

“If you’re a teacher, there’s more that’s expected of you than rank and file citizens.”